


Favor

by JeckParadox



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Crystal Gems, Friendship, Gem Fusion, Gem War, Gen, Redemption
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-05-13 12:24:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5708017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeckParadox/pseuds/JeckParadox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything went wrong. Impossibly wrong.<br/>When she finally is free of Malachite, she remembers why she was on this miserable planet. She owes Peridot a favor, she had promised to protect her. </p><p>Written after "Logdate 7 15 2"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Let me go!" She roared. Pulling as hard as she could. "I don't want to be Malachite!"

_Yes you do._

"Stop!" Lapis screamed. "We're staying here, where we can't do any more damage!"

"NO!" Just a little slip. That was all she needed. For days and days, their battle had continued. Jasper had... relaxed was the wrong word, but she had stopped fighting as hard, becoming exhausted. After that night when the Rose Quartz  _Steven_ appeared in their mindscape, Lapis had almost let go. Had almost given her control. Since then, Jasper had bided her time. Fighting less, so that Lapis' own grip would lessen. But tonight, she would be free. 

Tonight, she would _kill_ Malachite. And then she would kill every other thing on this miserable garbage planet. 

Lapis Lazuli struggled with the imagined bonds, trying to yank Jasper back under the mirror surface that was Malachite's dominance. Jasper pulled on the other end, trying to pull herself to the surface, to have enough control to end the fusion herself. There would be no Ro _Steven_ Quartz to distract her. There would be time enough for that later. First, and foremost, Lapis Lazuli, and then Malachite itself, were her enemies. "Give. In!" Jasper grunted out, forcing her limbs through the mirror of the mindscape, tearing at the imaginary shackles and shields of water. 

In the outside world, Malachite shuddered and spasmed. 

Jasper ripped into the surface, dragging her body forward inch by inch with her finger tips. "I won't let you!" Screamed Lapis, being dragged down as much as Jasper pulled up. 

"Let go." Jasper said, pleading, commanding, begging, praying. "Let go. Let go. Let go!" Her legs were above now. Forcing her way to her full height, she yanked on her own chains, forcing Lapis under completely. "I'm in charge now." She said. She almost let go in that moment, the relief at succeeding nearly overpowering her. "And..." She breathed in the damp of the mindscape, closed her eyes to the green. "And we are **not** Malachite." The light erupted, blinding them both. The world melted away, and the two Gems floated down to the ocean floor. Both of them too weak to do anything meaningful. 

Lapis Lazuli idly tried to manipulate the water around them, but was too exhausted to follow through. Jasper closed her eyes for a few minutes, which turned into hours. "Lapis?" Jasper asked, eventually.

"...Yeah?"

"I hate you."

The water tightened into a maw around them, trying to grind Jasper's projected body to the poofing point, but she simply didn't have the strength. Jasper shrugged it off, standing to her full height, and walked over to the other Gem. "I'll keep you here..." Lapis growled. Jasper reached forward and gripped Lapis' head, tightening her hold until the solid hologram skull collapsed in on itself, her body poofing, and leaving the tiny blue teardrop to drift downward. 

Lapis Lazuli's Gem settled in the sand, and Jasper considered for a moment whether she should simply shatter her.

But something made her turn around, and walk the other way. After all that, those months of torture, she couldn't let it end so quietly, not while Lapis couldn't even fight back. Jasper would have her revenge, she decided, maybe not now, but someday. 

* * *

 

She rose from the ocean trailing debris, plantlife and mud and tiny things that tried to bite her. Her gaze turned to the Temple, and she marched toward it. Climbing up the wooden stairs, she destroyed the door and much of the outward-facing wall with a simple swipe of her arm. 

She paused and frowned at the alien building. Turning to look out at the sea, her eyes locked onto her enemy. Rose Quartz looked down on her from above the doorway, smiling smugly. Picking up the couch, Jasper threw the entire structure forward, watching it crash into the portrait, and carry the rest of the wall down onto the beach below. Letting out a little of her stress, she collapsed again, lying on the wooden floor and staring at the Warp Pad and the Gem-Locked door ahead of her. It was a primitive lock, millennium out of date, of course, but she didn't have the proper tools to break through the door. 

She would have to wait. 

The day passed, and soon afterwards, the night, and Jasper remained, standing guard at the door, waiting for one of the Crystal Gems to exit. She considered the Warp Pad, but she had no idea where she could go. The Homeworld Warp she knew was broken. The ship was unrecoverable. 

And, in a deeper part of herself, she knew she didn't want to leave the planet, not until she had made each and every one of them pay. 

Another day and night passed, before her vigil was interrupted. A human knocked hesitantly at the remains of the door, but was caught staring at her. "Um..." He began. When Jasper simply stared back, her expression in a permanent glare, he giggled nervously and pointed at his bundle of papers and packages. "...I brought the mail? Are... you one of the Gems?"

Jasper walked forward, grabbing the man and lifting him with one hand, her eyes narrowing. "Where are they? The Gems who live here. I've been waiting... far too long for them."

"I don't know." The mailman said, panicking. "They've been gone for more than a week now-"

"Damn it!" She roared, dropping him. "Where could they have gone?!"

"Well, Mister Universe is in town, so he could probably tell you-" Jasper grabbed him again, growling deeply. 

" ** _Bring me to him_**."

"Right away!" 

* * *

 

"Oh shit." Greg said simply as he watched Jasper march forward, carrying Jamie under her arm like a package. Rushing to his van, he climbed inside and turned the keys. The van squealed in protest at the sudden turn and gas, but sped down the street all the same. 

"Was that the one who could lead me to the Gems?!" Jasper demanded.

"Yes but-" She dropped the mailman and took off running after the van. 

"Where are the Crystal Gems?!" Jasper screamed, quickly catching up to the van. 

"No, no, no..." Greg repeated, wincing as Jasper bodily lifted the van, the entire vehicle creaking from the stress on the frame. "Just-put me down!"

"Where. Are. They?"

"Why should I tell you?!" He said, sweating, but trying to remain brave. Jasper's nose glowed, and her battle helmet formed. "Oh." He said quietly. "I... I can call them... But I won't lead you to them!" He said, glaring at her. "They'll come on... their terms, I guess."

" **Fine**." She grunted. Crossing her arms, she watched his every move. 

Gulping, he sighed and pulled out his cellphone. Quickly hitting the Steven button in his contacts, he turned up the volume on his phone. The tone repeated several times, and then Steven's voice answered on the other side of the line. " _Dad!_ " 

"H-Hey, Schtewball... Um. Can you get the Gems, quick? There's uh, another Gem here. And I don't think she's friendly. Actually, I know, for a fact, that she's not friendly!"

" _Oh? Oh! Oh, I'll get them right away! Garnet! Amethyst! Pearl! Peridot-"_

Jasper flinched, and fell to her knees. Greg backed away, spooked by the sudden action. How could she have forgotten her mission? She was an escort! Peridot had requested her, put her trust in her, and Yellow Diamond herself had signed off on it! She couldn't fail. 

Jasper processed the call again, why would... Steven, say Peridot's name. 

"Human." She growled. 

"Ye-Yes?"

"Where is Peridot?" 

"Uh, she's with the other Gems, but-"

She did fail. Peridot was captured. 

Revenge... would have to come after. First, she would rescue Peridot. Before anything else.

"...Are you okay?"

"Human, give me the communicator." He handed over the phone, and Jasper got back to her full height. "You can go." She said, ignoring the existence of the human. "Crystal Gems!" She roared into the communicator. 

" _Jasper!_ " Came the startled reply on the other end. The permafusion. Garnet. After Lapis Lazuli, she was who she hated the most. " _What are you doing with Greg?"_

"I don't care what Greg is." She said harshly. "Tell me where you are."

" _Why should we?_ "

"Rose Quartz started her rebellion for the sake of the pathetic lifeforms on this planet. You're the last of her forces." She looked around. "Would you feel inclined to tell me if I killed every organic in this... infestation, that's grown near your Temple."

" _Don't you dare!_ " The Pearl.

" _If you even think about messing up Beach City, we'll be on you so fast-_ " The Runt. Amethyst. 

"I take that as a yes. Where are you?"

" _We're at the barn._ " Garnet ground out. " _Outside of the city. Greg can give you a map._ "

"What's a Greg?" Jasper said, her eyes looking toward the human not-so-subtly sneaking over to the driver's seat of the van. "The human?"

" _If you hurt him, we'll shatter you._ " 

" _Garnet!_ " Steven said nervously on the other end. 

"Don't worry about that quite yet." She glared at Greg. "Well, get a map!"

"Oh, of course!" He began rummaging through the trash in his car. "I know I have one somewhere-"

"But more than anything else... What is the condition of the Peridot I came here with-"

" _Jasper?!_ "

"...Peridot?"

" _Jasper, we need to talk, the situation's changed, there's been a miscalculation-_ "

"Don't worry, I'll be there as soon as I can. I'll get you out of there." She growled. "If any one of you harms Peridot in any way, every pathetic human in this town is forfeit!"

" _Jasper, seriously, we need_ -"

"I'll be there immediately." She said definitively. Then she crushed the phone and waited impatiently for the human to produce, and then, explain the map to her.


	2. Chapter 2

As she ran up the side of the hill, she began grinning in anticipation. The three Crystal Gems had lined up, weapons drawn, at the top of the hill, standing in front of a massive drill, and a damaged wooden building.

Jasper stopped moving forward and waited. Staring at the Crystal Gems, she noted that Steven and Peridot were almost hiding behind them. "You will release Peridot." Jasper growled. 

Amethyst tugged on her whip, her stance relaxed and her eyes half-lidded. "Why would we do that? P-Dot's fine where she is. And besides, just Garnet can take you, and we've got five of us here."

"Five?" Jasper said, narrowing her eyes. The permafusion, she knew, the other Crystal Gems treated like one Gem. Beside her, there was the Pearl, the Runt, and the Abomination. Only four, then. 

Peridot stepped forward, blushing brightly and unable to meet Jasper's eyes. "I was trying to tell you over the communicator, Jasper, the situation has changed. I've decided the cluster must be terminated. It's an unreasonable waste of resources otherwise. Rose Quartz, irresponsible as her intentions and methods were- what!? I'm being honest- had logical reasons for protecting Earth's unique elements."

" _You_ decided?" Jasper said, surprised. "What about Yellow Diamond?"

"Yellow Diamond..." Peridot looked downward, utterly ashamed, she began giggling maniacally. "...Is no longer an option, nor a reasonable source of authority."

Jasper blinked. "...Facet 2F5L Cut 5XG?" She asked, unbelieving that this was the same Peridot who had begged Jasper to escort her to Earth.

"...Yes."

"You adore Yellow Diamond!"

"...yes."

"What have you done to her?!"

Peridot looked up, surprised. The other Crystal Gems closed around her. "We haven't done anything to P-Dot!" Amethyst said defensively. "Unlike you, she's been cool!"

"You, you... you've indoctrinated her! You've filled her head with these idiotic, disgusting ideas! You've forced her into believing your infectious rebellious Rose Quartz-obsessed Court!"

"How dare you!" Pearl said defensively. "Rose Quartz wanted nothing but the best for this world, and for all Gems!"

"Er..." Peridot began, thinking about whether or not this would be a good time to actually bring up her objections.

Pearl shot her a glare. "We can debate the specifics later, Peridot." 

"Peridot." Jasper said. "Just... stay quiet. We're going to leave, and we're going to fix these alien ideas they've been fencing on you."

Garnet crossed her arms and frowned slightly. "Peridot, do you want to go with her?"

"Er... um... well, I'm not betraying our agreement, and I stand for what I said two nights ago!"

Pearl looked thoughtful. "The drill is complete... and we have the right coordinates. It's possible to do this without her. It would be more preferable, and safer, to bring you, and your expertise on the Cluster, Peridot."

"...Jasper. I'm... not their captive any more. I'm here because I think it's the right thing to do." She looked at the Crystal Gems, and her face became business-like. "I'll return within three days. If I have not, depart without me. The Cluster is... well, simply a very, very, large version of the miniature clusters you've come into contact with. Physical force, crude as it is, should be able to damage its Cluster-Gem. If you shatter it, and bubble the pieces, the threat will be neutralized."

"Thank you, Peridot." Garnet said respectfully. 

Steven quickly handed her his phone. "Just call the barn's phone- I put it in my contact's list, if you need anything!"

"Understood." Peridot said simply, and began walking out of the group circle and halfway down to where Jasper was standing, disgusted and angry. "And... Thanks." She gave a tentative thumbs-up to the Crystal Gems, before walking over to Jasper.

"Hey Jasper." Amethyst said threateningly. "If you hurt Peri, we'll mess you up so bad you'll miss the ocean."

"Lapis!" Steven said, remembering the other Gem suddenly. "If Jasper's here, then Lapis-"

"I'll find out." Peridot assured him. "Come on Jasper... we need to talk."

The orange Gem grabbed her and took off in a running leap, charging as far and as fast as she could away from the Crystal Gems. "Yes. We do."

* * *

 

The two stopped  at an abandoned building, a place that was dark and protective from the elements. 

Peridot sat down and sighed, not enjoying the situation. 

"...How have they been treating you?"

"...Fine." Peridot said. "I have not been harmed."

"Where are you limb enhancers?" 

"I." She stopped. "I have, regrettably, lost them."

"How?"

"...I may have been harmed."

Jasper sighed, looking over at her tiny partner. "What did they do to you?!"

"In an attempt to restore the Homeworld Warp, I captured Steven. This was before the Crystal Gems and I were cooperating. The Crystal Gems came after me, and... destroyed my physical form. They bubbled me, and Steven freed me, in an attempt to gain information about the Cluster."

"So they captured you."

"Well, yes, technically, but that's changed."

"You're still with them." She said, "Still doing their work. A ruby, a sapphire, an overcooked quartz, and a pearl, _couldn't_ have built that machine."

"Pearl has been surprisingly adept with machinery." Peridot said quietly. "Better than a few of the other peridots on Homeworld, even."

"Like I'd believe that."

"The Gems here on Earth are unusual. They don't follow any of the mandates or customs of Homeworld. Not a single one really understands or follows their intended purpose."

Jasper nodded.

"But... It's not that bad." Peridot said, smiling a little. "I've never really _talked_ with someone like Garnet, Amethyst or Pearl." 

"Peridot, what methods of communication do we have available, to contact Homeworld?"

"Before I-" she looked to the side. "... was captured, I exhausted every possible avenue I could think of. The ship is completely destroyed. My personal communicators have been lost. The communicators at old Homeworld bases are either too obsolete to make contact, or too damaged to repair. The Warp Pads leading off the planet have been damaged to the point where they do not function. I've..." she sighed. "Jasper, will you promise me something?"

"Peridot?" Jasper asked, surprised. 

"If... I..." she sighed. "Why is speaking with others so difficult? Jasper, I want you to promise me, that you'll let me go back to the Crystal Gems if I want to."

"Why would I promise something like that?"

"Jasper. I'm a traitor to Homeworld."

Jasper blinked, and she stood to her full height, towering over Peridot. "Don't say that. Homeworld doesn't have to know you've been cooperating- you were captured, they forced you, and you just got... confused."

"No, Jasper. Homeworld already knows!" She laughed, but her face showed she was distressed to the point of tears. "Yellow Diamond knows."

"How?"

"I made successful contact, on my last try." She whispered. "We- the Crystal Gems and I, went to the Diamond's private base on the planet's moon."

"You-"

"I sat in the Diamond's chair!" Peridot said, almost squeeing, her face shifting temporarily into a mischievous smile. "And I grabbed the Diamond-to-Diamond personal Communicator."

"You didn't!" Jasper said, shocked. 

"I contacted Yellow Diamond, and..." the smile disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "...she was utterly unreasonable."

"She's Yellow Diamond!"

"I know!" Peridot exclaimed. "I know, she's perfect, she's amazing! She should be the most efficient, logical, manager in the history of the- the whole universe! And she was unreasonable! She refused to listen to me, she just..." Peridot's face contorted with anger. "She just... ignored the resources here! The potential for growing the Empire and benefitting Gemkind! She said she _hated_ the planet. And that she wanted it _dead_. And that she would be _immensely satisfied_ to see it removed from the Starcharts!" Peridot crossed her arms. "Yellow Diamond wants to destroy an entire planet, two perfectly viable if slightly damaged kindergartens, and an utterly unique and useful ecosystem, at the whim of her- her emotions!"

"That's impossible." Jasper grunted. "The Crystal Gems told you this?"

"Yellow Diamond told me this! I contacted her, personally! I spoke with her, via the Diamond Channel! She just didn't care about what was reasonable at all!" Peridot gulped. "And I called her a clod."

Jasper was silent for a time. 

Peridot was just as silent, reliving the worst moment in her life all over again. 

"Oh my stars." Jasper breathed quietly. "Your doomed."

"I know."

"Why would you do that?!"

"You should have seen her face!" Peridot said, somewhere between finding the memory hilarious and existentially horrifying.

"You'll be shattered!"

"I know." 

"You're a traitor to your Homeworld!" Jasper said angrily.

Peridot sighed. "I know. I can't go back. I'm stuck on this-"

"Miserable planet, forever." Jasper finished.

"...Not too miserable. The humans have created interesting entertainment programs."

"So... what do we do next?" Jasper asked. "What's our- my mission, now?"

Peridot looked at her feet. "Jasper, I'm sorry."

"You should be." She slammed her fist into the ground. "Traitor."

"But you're not... just, stick around. Yellow Diamond knows our location. The Crystal Gems will leave the immediate area soon, to destroy the Cluster, but if you stay here, Homeworld Gems will retrieve you."

"If I'm not a traitor... I should capture the Crystal Gems."

"You can't, they're stronger than you." Peridot said, matter-of-factly. "And then they'd bubble you- and you'd be trapped here!"

"...Then I can still capture _you_."

Peridot suddenly looked afraid. Backing slowly away from Jasper, she whispered "Jasper please. Just let me go with the Crystal Gems. The mission was a failure, because of me. Just tell them that, you can still go home, and I can still escape!"

Jasper held her head in her hands, looking down at the floor. "I came here because you asked me to, Peridot."

Peridot nodded sadly. 

"I came here, and was mocked, and I failed the mission set for me by Yellow Diamond, and I let you get captured, and now you've been turned into a traitor." Jasper continued. She took a deep breath, and Peridot winced. "We're even."

"...What?"

"I was going to be shattered for incompetence, sixty years ago, when I was tricked into letting an entire sect of traitors escape the planet we had them ambushed on. But you took responsibility, saying the ship had been sabotaged, and that you should have prevented."

"I..."

"I owed you, for that. I owed you my life. You asked me to be your escort for some silly mission to check on the Cluster on this backwater planet. And I did. But now... You want me to let you go, a traitor, and just wait for Yellow Diamond to pick me up, and face the consequences for this... unprecedented disaster?"

Peridot looked to the floor.

"Fine. I will. We're even. No more favors."

 


	3. Chapter 3

It was suicide, really. That was the proper word for it. Jasper was already considered once to be worthy of execution. A failure on this scale, there was no way around it.

She was going to be shattered. 

She crushed a rock in her hands idly, and shook her hands clean. Just like that. Gone from the universe. The most useful thing she'd ever do after that would be becoming raw materials. And for what? Because Peridot had to call Yellow Diamond a clod! But that was just shifting the blame, wasn't it? It was Jasper's own fault in the end. She was the escort. Her job was to protect Peridot, and help her do everything she needed to reactivate the Cluster, and take care of the Crystal Gems. 

She had planned on fighting Rose Quartz and maybe ten or so of her rebels. Their ship could blast anything up to her shield to nothing. They had destabilizers. Gem-Tech the likes of which these clods had never seen. It should have been an easy victory, even if she were facing the most dangerous Quartz in the universe, and an entire squad of her most powerful soldiers. Instead, it had merely been four rejects and that abominati _Steven_. 

Her mind wouldn't let her call him anything else.

And that was a whole other problem. Malachite. All for the sake of that damn human. Lapis Lazuli, inside their shared mind, repeated her clearest intention like a mantra. Protect Steven. Hold Jasper. Protect Steven. Keep him safe from Jasper. Over and over, all those weeks. Jasper would never fuse again. Not knowing all the insidious ways another Gem can get inside your own head. She only hoped she gave as bad as she got. She hoped that Lapis Lazuli was choking on Jasper's hatred. She hoped that every time Lapis looked at herself, she saw only the hatred Jasper had for her. 

Four rejects and Steven. Not a single decent fighter among them. A failed bodyguard. A useless aristocrat/computer. An overcooked unstable runt of a quartz. And a defective servant. And Steven. Less that what Jasper expected. Weaker than Jasper expected. And she still lost to them. All of it was her fault. 

The two of them quickly made their way back to the barn, and Peridot, looking miserable, went back to the Crystal Gems, who immediately began to interrogate her. 

"Are you okay?" the amethyst asked. 

"I am unharmed." Peridot said. She turned to Steven and blushed slightly. "I was unfortunately unable to get exact coordinates to Lapis Lazuli's position, but apparently her gem is unharmed, and buried a few miles off-shore near the bottom of the ocean. She should regenerate within a few days... or perhaps longer, given the stressful circumstances."

"That's alright. I'm just happy to know she's safe... we should still look for her though! Will Jasper help if-"

"No." Jasper said, in a tone that stated that that branch of the conversation was over. 

"Alright. Well, she's still okay! That's what matters."

"Are _you_ okay, Peridot?" the fusion asked.

"I already said so." Peridot said. "I'm fine."

The fusion seemed to weigh her words, and then gave a satisfied nod. "Alright then."

From there, the entire group turned their attention to Jasper. "Jasper has agreed for now to a cease-fire."

The amethyst summoned her whip and gave it a threatening pull. "For how long?"

"Until Yellow Diamond comes here to destroy this miserable world." Jasper growled. "You have me beaten for now." She admitted sourly. "So I'm going to wait until Homeworld sends a ship to retrieve me. In the meantime, I'm going to gather any information I can."

The fusion adjusted her glasses, staring down Jasper for a moment, before shrugging. "Fine. Don't get in our way, or you'll regret it."

"We can't just leave her running around! She could try to sabotage the drill." the pearl said.

"We should poof her just in case." the amethyst added. "Sunny D can come pick her gem up when or if she does get here."

"NO!" Peridot said, surprising everyone but the perma-fusion.  "We can trust her." She added, less loudly. "This is the optimal situation for both parties. She won't interfere with our mission, and we don't hurt her. She goes to Yellow Diamond when- if she comes, rather than being trapped in a bubble."

"And we're just going to hope she decides not to slam us when our backs are turned?" the runt challenged.

"I didn't betray you." Peridot said. "I can personally vouch for Jasper's dedication to her word." 

And to Jasper's amazement, they all seemed to accept that answer. 

"Now, we can't have you interfering with our work, so you'll have to stay a good distance away." the pearl instructed- a pearl, presuming to give Jasper orders? "Over that hill should be fine. It's also closer to where Peridot contacted Yellow Diamond. If you just wait there until the Homeworld ships come to destroy us, you'll be fine."

Jasper narrowed her eyes, and then shrugged. The sooner she left, the less time she had to spend among traitors. Freaks. Defects. And Peridot. And Steven.

* * *

 

Jasper sat on the hill for who knows how long. The sun rose in the sky, and with it all manner of hideous earth organisms with it. Soon the grassland around her was practically screeching with the sounds of birds, frogs, and bugs. 

In a moment that Jasper denied had ever happened, she silently wished she was back in the sea. At least it was quiet there. It was brimming with life, more by orders of magnitude than what was sitting here shouting on the hill. But shrimp didn't whistle to each other. Fish, when sensing a large object moving quickly through the water, swam away, rather than towards. The parasites and detritus-eaters soon realized that Malachite had no blood to suck, and that the hologram bodies didn't have enough pores to collect anything the water itself wouldn't wash away. 

It was quieter, in the ocean.

After more than an hour of listening to the cacophony, she noted the Crystal Gems leaving the structure and going about on their duties. Peridot was in the thick of it, talking with the others, barking orders- as she should- or getting told where to go. The metal monstrosity they were building was presumably some kind of underground transport or an excavation device. 

One which would take them down to the Cluster. 

All at once, Jasper began to think on the Cluster. Peridot wouldn't stop muttering about it, all the way from Homeworld to Earth. She was just as upset about the Crystal Gems interfering, of course, and Peridot, despite how much Jasper owed the smaller Gem, had a grating voice, and was beneath her caste. Not by much. But enough that Jasper didn't have to listen to her if it wasn't mission-pertinent.

Peridot was a certified kindergartner. She was proud of it. Planets capable of supporting Kindergartens were rare, not too rare, or the Gem species would be having problems, but rare enough that those who ran kindergartens were _important_ , were _special_. Every peridot wanted to be a kindergarten technician. Jasper's peridot had completed her training with perfect scores, and it would only be a matter of time before a new Kindergarten opened up and she would be sent over to be one of its operators. Instead, Yellow Diamond picked her, Facet 2F5L Cut 5XG, to check up on Yellow Diamond's secret project. 

That left Peridot feeling conflicted, Japser knew. Peridot worshiped Yellow Diamond, plain and simple. ~~All Gems~~ All _real_ Gems were devoted to their Diamonds, and held nothing but respect and reverence, but Peridot was even moreso. Her faith in Yellow Diamond, since her conception, had been absolute. When Peridot was forbidden from her dream job and sent to a filthy, far-out-of-the way planet with a terrible history, and forced to deal with complication after complication with little consideration for Peridot's time or abilities, Peridot was devastated. Because, despite hating her job, it was a job given personally to her by Yellow Diamond.

Peridot had moaned and whined about it, obviously, but never once did she blame Yellow Diamond, or even the job itself. Just... everything _about_ the job.

Jasper sighed, wishing she had paid attention during those rants so she knew what she was in for. 

From what she gathered, the Cluster was a geo-weapon of some kind. A permafusion of various Gem shards- which before she came to Earth she would have scoffed at, but now she recognized the power a fusion of different Gems -capable of vast amounts of destruction.

* * *

The evening came faster than it seemed, or at least the day's work seemed to fly past. She looked over at the hill, and the big tuft of white hair on top of her giant orange... former escort.

Jasper was still here, nearby, watching them. Though considering Jasper's other options, it wasn't that strange. 

"Feeling any regrets?" Peridot jumped slightly at the sudden voice, but quickly calmed down when she realized it was just Garnet. Just a week or two ago being sneaked up on like that would have sent her on a panicked flight. She still found it a little amazing how quickly the Crystal Gems had changed her. Years and years, just being "Peridot Facet 2F5L Cut 5XG", and within a few mere days she was suddenly just "hey Peridot". 

"Of course." She answered honestly. "Thousands, at this point." She still couldn't get over yelling in Yellow Diamond's face. Reliving the moment with Jasper yesterday had refreshed the moment in her mind. The other Crystal Gems had mostly blown it off. The Diamonds were already angry with them. They already thought themselves doomed. They didn't respect the Diamonds at all. But seeing Jasper's expression at the news brought her back down to Earth. Seeing someone else aware of the ramifications of what she did. 

Garnet nodded. Garnet usually understood things pretty well. 

"Are you going to talk to her?"

"She probably hates me."

"I wouldn't say that." Garnet said, watching Jasper get up and walk towards them. 

Peridot's first instinct was to back up and hide herself behind Garnet, but resisted the impulse, putting on a determined mask as Jasper approached. The larger Gem stopped a few feet away from them, her arms folded. "Peridot." She began.

"Jasper."

Jasper glared at Garnet for a moment, and the Fusion frowned and turned away, walking back to the barn. "I want to know more about the Cluster." Jasper said finally.

"Oh?" 

"I figure I should have something to report." Jasper managed through gritted teeth. "That is if they let me talk."

Peridot winced and nodded. She began walking up the hill back to the barn, but stopped after about ten feet, realizing that Jasper wasn't following. "Um, I have some diagrams and things I made with Steven up here."

"I'm not going into their camp." 

"Oh. That makes sense, I'll just... get... them..." rushing awkwardly up the hill, she dove into the barn and ruffled through the various blueprints and junk that they had strung together planning their operation to destroy the Cluster. Grabbing the most relevant ones, she began to shamble back down the hill. She had piled on several piles of paper and had even grabbed Steven's box and-puppet Earth/Cluster model. 

Running back down the hill she tripped, sending the entire mess sprawling outward and covering Jasper in information about the Cluster. 

The larger Gem only sighed and began to gather back up the piles.

"Sorry." 

"Whatever."

"So, to begin with, the Cluster is a pressurized force-fusion." She pulled up a drawing of various shards, and a diagram showing the seeding process for Kindergartens. "It's in part the natural expansion of the method of Gem creation. Regular Gem seeding injects the planet's crust with liquid information, made up of millions of microscopic gem fragments. These tiny flecks of gem fuse with compatible mineral deposits and absorb the ambient magic and nutrients from the planet that they've been seeded into. The pressure of the rock around them in part condenses the material into a single, solid, gem. Cluster gems are made in the same process, but rather than taking mere genetic information and particles, clusters are made from already-developed Gem shards."

She pulled out a series of photographs, depicting what looked to Jasper as hideous monstrosities of confused and multicolored limbs, as well as frankly obscene looking gems. But Peridot observed the pictures in an analytical manner, seeing the abominations as something interesting. "Initially, it was an attempt to rehabilitate and recycle shattered gems, but there were a number of as-of-yet un-resolvable issues. Going through the pressurizing and nutrient and magic-absorbing process a second time corrupted the genetic information of the individual gem shards, and clusters that are fused together often have incompatible genetic data. Their physicals forms thus are merely the few bits and pieces that all the gem-shards agree should be there. Simply: it's mostly limbs, because almost all gems have legs and arms that look and are used in the same way. The Cluster though, is different." Here she pulled out the box and put it over her own head, struggling with it for a few seconds, and grumbling about the size of her hair. 

Jasper watched in horrified fascination as Peridot explained that she was the Earth, and that the puppet head she forcefully punched through the side of the box was the Cluster. 

"The Cluster, with a capital C,  is composed of an almost proportionate number of gem shards, magic levels, and heat and pressure, as a normal gem being seeded would." She pulled the mess of a costume off of herself, and picked up another diagram. "There are about 60% of the number of gem shards going into the Cluster as the number of gem particles would go into the creation of a Gem. The heat and pressure of the core of planet Earth, as well as direct access to vast majority of the ambient magic and nutritious minerals that exist on Earth, will feed into its creation."

"And when it's complete, it'll try to summon its physical form." Jasper said, connecting the dots fairly easily. "And we'll get a Kindergarten Hole."

"Erm, well its the same principal. With kindergarten holes, the layer of rock encompassing them is obliterated in one direction. But considering how proportionally small planet Earth is, the emergence of the Cluster's physical form would utterly obliterate the Earth." She looked down at the grass below her and grabbed her own shoulders, suppressing a shudder. "Nothing on the planet's surface would survive the impact or the fallout. Gem, organic, or otherwise."

Jasper shared Peridot's expression as she looked down at the grass as well. Deep below that patch of dirt, the gem that would be their doom was growing. "Why does something like this even exist?" She asked. "Where would its creators even find the necessary amount of Gem shards?!"

Peridot looked at Jasper confused. "What do you mean?"

"The sheer number of gems that would have to have died to make this thing..." Jasper's eyes widened and she stepped away from Peridot in horror. "The rebels." She began. "And our soldiers too..." She looked back at the diagrams, slowly growing in rage.

"This was one of the largest rebellions in gemkind's history. More gems shattered on planet Earth than anywhere else in the galaxy."

"And they're... all down there now?"

Peridot nodded. "Is... is there anything else you wanted to know?"

"And you helped to make this?" Jasper sounded almost accusatory. It was one thing to hear about it as rumors or Peridot's grumblings, as just a basic outline... but this was obscene. 

"Yellow Diamond ordered it." Peridot said, excusing her involvement. 

Jasper bit back a response and turned her back on Peridot. "Thanks." She said simply.

"If you need anything else at all, just tell me." Peridot said. "Please. Anything at all Jasper."

"I said we're even. We are." She began walking back the way she came, to sit back on the top of the hill she has spent most of the day on. "Traitor." She said, almost an afterthought. 

 


End file.
